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Dhananjaya de Silva digs deep for Sri Lanka as England cement their dominance

Dhananjaya de Silva was a lone figure of resistance for Sri Lanka, as he justified his own decision to bat first with a battling 74 from 84 balls on the first day of the Old Trafford Test. Sadly for the captain, however, the rest of his top-order could not summon the same levels of gumption. An initial collapse of three wickets for no runs in ten balls gave way to a tea-time total of xx for 8, as de Silva’s own dismissal to Shoaib Bashir five minutes before the break continued a satisfying first taste of international captaincy for his counterpart, Ollie Pope.
De Silva himself arrived at a sickly scoreline of 40 for 4 in the 16th over, moments after Kusal Mendis had been blasted from the crease by a brute of a delivery from Mark Wood. But, after making it to lunch on 28 not out, he grew into his role as wickets continued to slide away in the afternoon, bringing up a 56-ball fifty as he found some doughty allies lower down the order, not least the debutant Milan Rathnayake, with whom he added 63 for the eighth wicket.
It was a gutsy knock from de Silva, who farmed the strike well in between a diet of eight well-struck boundaries, each of them showcasing his sharp footwork and delicate balance. But having survived a stumping off Bashir on 65, when Jamie Smith failed to gather cleanly with the bails at his mercy, he fell to the same bowler nine runs and ten overs later, when Dan Lawrence at leg slip scooped up a sharp low deflection off a big-turning offbreak.
Nevertheless, de Silva alone had showed what should have been possible on a hard and dry surface that offered good carry to the quicks, and which Pope expected would stay true for the first half of the contest at least.
Choosing to bat first may have been the brave option for Sri Lanka, but Pope himself admitted he would have bowled first anyway, and even before the end of the first half-hour, de Silva’s call was being made to look distinctly foolish. After inching along to 6 for 0 in a misleadingly sedate first 5.3 overs, the innings was soon in tatters at 6 for 3 after seven.
The first blow was landed by Gus Atkinson, whose initial focus had been on a full length and a tight line, to limit Dimuth Karunaratne to a solitary scoring stroke in his first 17 deliveries. Atkinson then bent his back on a sharp lifter from just back of a length, and Smith reached high behind the stumps to claw down a thin top-edge, as Karunaratne fluffed his first shot in anger, an expansive swish across the line.
Four balls later, Nishan Madushka’s early discipline also deserted him as Chris Woakes served up a juicy outswinger that he could only scuff straight to Joe Root at first slip, who clung on in the heel of his palms. And with the final ball of the same over, Woakes had his second courtesy of a ghastly misjudgement from Angelo Mathews. The hero of the 2014 series win was gone for a five-ball duck, burning a review in the process as he offered no stroke to an inducer that was shown to be hitting the top of middle.
Kusal and Chandimal showed some gumption in a limited counterattack, with the first five boundaries of the innings all coming in the space of 12 balls, four of them to Kusal off Matthew Potts, whose wide angle into the stumps offered the chance to free the hands through the off-side.
But, after limping to drinks on 37 for 3, there was another challenge waiting for the second hour. Wood tore into his opening spell with typical gusto, and struck with his seventh ball – a gruesomely quick lifter to Kusal that crashed into his left thumb and looped to Harry Brook at second slip. Much like the snorter that broke Kevin Sinclair’s wrist in the West Indies series, Kusal left the crease wringing his hand, and looking in urgent need of an ice-pack at the very least.
Out came de Silva to shore up the listing innings, but with lunch approaching, his measured stand of 32 in seven overs with Chandimal was undone in cruel and unusual fashion. Shoaib Bashir entered the attack for an exploratory pre-lunch spell, and struck in his second over with an unplayable daisycutter, reminiscent of Nasser Hussain’s viral moment against Carl Hooper in Trinidad in 1998.
Chandimal was the luckless victim, nailed on the shin in line with off stump as he played back to a length delivery that scuttled more wickedly than you could even have expected on a fifth-day wicket, let alone before lunch on day one. He gambled on the review, hoping against hope that he’d been struck outside the line, but Bashir’s sheepish appeal and celebration could have told him everything he needed to know.
Sri Lanka’s steady seepage of wickets continued into the afternoon. Kamindu Mendis, who came into the match with a towering Test average of 107.00 after five previous innings, looked settled for a time, particularly when he rocked back on a rare wide delivery from Woakes to lash his first boundary through the covers. One ball later, however, Woakes changed his approach to round the wicket and delivered the sucker punch: a length ball, angling into the stumps, that the newly pumped-up batter couldn’t resist flirting through to the keeper.
Atkinson then bagged his second in similarly guileless fashion. Prabath Jayasuriya looped a limp uppercut to gully as England switched to a short-ball ploy, only to be reprieved by the third umpire who called no-ball for three bouncers in the over. Not to be discouraged, Atkinson simply fired the extra delivery through on a fuller length, and Jayasuriya snicked off with his feet stuck in the crease.
Rathnayake, however, would not prove quite so gullible in his shot selection. Despite channelling a bashful schoolboy while being presented with his Test cap by Kumar Sangakkara before the start of play, he was more than man enough to withstand England’s eager attempts to dislodge him, picking off four fours in his 67-ball 32 not out. More of the same will be needed after tea if Sri Lanka are to nudge their total past 200.
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Ireland surge ahead despite Muzarabani’s heroics

Ireland and Zimbabwe continued to zigzag with the flow yet again in Bulawayo but it was the visitors who were better placed at the end of the day. barry McCarthy’s toil and versatility combined with Andy McBrine’s consistency provided them with the hope of capturing a substantial lead.
Blessing Muzarabani thought otherwise. His inspired 67-run stand for the tenth wicket with Trevor Gwandu took Zimbabwe from a position of danger into the comforts of a slender lead. But it was a sign of the pitch easing out, something Ireland’s top order didn’t waste.
Peter Moor dispatched Muzarabani, who didn’t bowl consistent lines, as Ireland raced to 42 for 0 in seven overs. Richard Ngarava got one to angle away to ensure Moor’s 33 didn’t grow to become a good score, but his partner, Andy Balbirnie, joined Curtis Campher to ensure Ireland went to stumps unscathed.
Brief scores:
Ireland 260 and 83 for 1 in 21 overs (Andy Balbirnie 32*, Peter Moor 30; Richard Ngarava 1-25) lead Zimbabwe 267 in 86.1 overs (Nick Welch 90, Blessing Muzarabani 47; Barry McCarthy 4-75, Andy McBrine 3-59) by 76 runs
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Malintha bags ten wickets as St. Sebastian’s book semi-final ticket

A painstaking knock of 49 runs by Kaveesha Perera and a valuable half century by Navod Fernando helped St. Sebastian’s College, Moratuwa pull of exciting four wickets victory over St. Anthony’s College Katugastota in the Under 19 Division I Tier ‘A’ cricket quarter-final at Gajaba Regiment Ground Saliyapura, Anuradhapura on Friday.
It was a huge turnaround for the Sebs after conceding a first innings deficit of 51 runs. Tournament’s highest wicket taker, Malintha Silva’s six wicket haul in the second innings was the turning point as Sebs dismissed St. Anthony’s for 103 runs. Malintha collected a match bag of ten wickets.
Chasing 149 runs for victory St. Sebastian’s lost three wickets for 40 runs but Navod Fernando’s 58 runs and Kaveesha’s 131-ball 49 helped them ease nerves and reach the target with a session to spare.
Now St. Sebastian’s will meet the winners of the match between St. Joseph’s and St. Peter’s in the semi-final on 12, 13 and 14 at Samadi Ground Anuradhapura.
In the other quarter-final, first innings points were enough for Royal to advance to the semi-final.
Despite having a huge first innings lead, Royal decided not to enforce the follow-on. They posted 248 runs thanks to an unbeaten 122 runs by Vimath Dinsara. In their second essay S. Thomas’ were 186 for three wickets at close.
Now, Royal will wait for a decision by a SLSCA committee to see who would be their semi-final opponents from the Mahanama-Trinity match. The quarter-final between Mahanama and Trinity did not last the full distance after Mahanama disputed a move by the ground staff to roll the wicket earlier than the scheduled time and pulled out. Trinity were ahead in the first innings. The committee were scheduled to meet in the morning on Saturday (8) to take a decision.
Match Details
At Gajaba Regiment Ground Saliyapura, Anuradhapura
Scores
St. Anthony’s 204 all out in 70 overs (Sanuka Kalpana 41, Charuka Ekanayake 24, Kevan Fernando 89n.o.; Risinu Prabesh 2/21, Malintha Silva 4/60) and 103 all out in 35.4 overs (Okitha Fernando 29, Charuka Ekanayake 21, Kevan Fernando 28; Malintha Silva 6/54, Shenas Hashein 3/23)
St. Sebastian’s 159 all out in 67 overs (Ushen Silva 33, Ryan Dissanayake 33, Navod Fernando 34; Charuka Ekanayake 3/66, Dinura Ganegoda 3/20, Kevan Fernando 2/09) and 00 for 1 overnight 149 for 6 in 51.1 overs (Kaveesha Perera 49, Navod Fernando 58; Charuka Ekanayake 2/33, Ryan Gregory 2/24, Sadew Amarakoon 2/22)
At Samadi Ground Anuradhapura
Scores
Royal 301 all out in 102.4 overs (Hirun Liyanarachchi 22, Rehan Peiris 82, Ramiru Perera 81, Yasindu Dissanayake 58; Kavindu Dias 2/69, Abheeth Paranawidana 2/66, Minon Warnasuriya 2/37) and 50 for 2 overnight 248 all out in 63.5 overs (Isula Geeganage 47, Vimath Dinsara 122n.o, Ramiru Perera 25; Abheeth Paranawidana 3/63, Aaron de Silva 3/48)
S. Thomas’ 120 all out in 58.2 overs (Dineth Goonewardene 28, Sachitha Gunasinghe 33; Sehandu Sooriyaarachchi 5/31, Ranuka Malaviarachchi 2/39) and 186 for 3 in 39 overs (Sadew Soysa 57, Jaden Amaraweera 46, Dineth Gunawardana 44n.o., Mithila Charles 34n.o.)
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President and representatives of IMF discuss progress of EFF

A comprehensive discussion regarding the progress of the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) agreed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) took place on Thursday (06) at the Presidential Secretariat, between President Anura Kumara Disanayake and the IMF delegation.
The current government has already reached a staff-level agreement with the IMF on the third review regarding the extended arrangement under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) of USD3 billion.
The details of this review are expected to be presented to the International Monetary Fund’s Board of Directors by the end of this month. In this regard, discussions were held regarding the progress and the government’s involvement in continuing the program moving forward.
Once the approval is granted by the IMF Executive Board, Sri Lanka is expected to release the fourth tranche of the extended loan, amounting to 333 million dollars.
The discussion was also attended by IMF Executive Director Dr. Krishnamurthy Subramanian, Alternate Executive Director Dr. P. K. G. Harischandra, Deputy Minister of Economic Development Dr. Anil Jayantha Fernando, Secretary to the President Dr. Nandika Sanath Kumanayake, Secretary to the Ministry of Finance Mahinda Siriwadana, and Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe.
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